‘Tis the season for the flu, and if the regular strain wasn’t bad enough, we have a new, porcine terror to contend with. These brightly patterned medical face masks, however, may ward off H1N1 and its brethren simply by virtue of being stylish—looking like Wacko Jacko in his latter days notwithstanding. Designed by Marjan Kooroshnia, a Swedish textile-design student, these face masks have a bonus feature: They’re printed with thermochromic ink that changes color with any uptick in breathing temperature.

Want to talk about a sight for sore eyes? Diabetics could soon be weeping tears of joy over a new noninvasive technology that would make the ritual of drawing blood throughout the day ancient history. A biochemical engineer at the University of Western Ontario has developed contact lenses that change color in response to spikes and dips in the wearer’s glucose levels. The secret: Ultra-teeny nanoparticles that react chemically with glucose molecules in tears to produce a shift in hue.

The nanocomposite hydrogel lenses, which could render those pesky e-waste-generating blood-glucose meters obsolete, will allow diabetics to monitor potentially life-threatening variations in their sugar levels without missing a thing. (Another upside: They’re ouch-free.)

Professor Jin Zhang received $216,342 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation on Wednesday to further develop the multifunctional nanocomposite technology, which has applications in everything from measuring pathogenic contamination in produce to improving the biodegradability of food packaging.